Walnuts benefits are really impressive: Just ¼ cup, for example, provides 100 % of the daily recommended value of plant-based omega-3 fats, together with high amounts of biotin, copper, molybdenum, and manganese. Some of the most exiting research about walnuts includes:
- Heart Health
Walnuts have the amino acid l-arginine that provides multiple vascular benefits to individuals with heart disease, or those who have a higher risk for heart disease as a result of multiple cardiac risk factors.
However, is you fight with herpes, you should limit or avoid walnuts, because the high levels of arginine could reduce the amino acid lysine that can activate herpes recurrences.
Walnuts also contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the plant-based omega-3 fat, that is anti-inflammatory and can prevent pathological blood blot clot formations. A study on the subject showed that individuals who consumed a diet high in ALA are less prone to fatal heart attacks and have approximately 50 % lower risk of sudden cardiac deaths.
Consuming just 4 walnuts per day has been found to significantly increase blood levels of heart-healthy ALA, and walnut intake supports “good” cholesterol levels.
Other research has proven that eating only 1 ounce of walnuts per day may reduce cardiovascular risk, and thereby significantly lower the risk of mortality.
- Weight Control
Including walnuts in your well-balanced diet can help you maintain ideal weight over time. In a review of 31 trials, people whose diets included nuts, instead of other not too healthy foods, lost 1.4 extra pounds and ½ inch from their waists.
Consuming walnuts is also linked to increased satiety after just 3 days.
- Brain Health
Walnut contain numerous neuroprotective compounds, including omega-3 fats, antioxidants, melatonin, vitamin E, and folate. Studies show that walnut intake can support brain health, as well as increase inferential reasoning in young adults.
Another study concluded that eating high-antioxidant foods such as walnuts can increase one’s life span, reduce the higher possibility of oxidative stress which occurs in aging, and also improves motor and cognitive functions in aging.
- Improved Reproductive Performance in Men
The positive impact of walnuts on male fertility and overall male health are one of the most incredible walnut benefits that are not widely known. Among men who eat a Western-style diet, consuming 75 grams of walnuts a day considerably improved sperm quality, as well as vitality, morphology and motility.
- Unique and Powerful Antioxidants
Antioxidants are vital to our health, as they are thought to help us control how fast we age by fighting free radicals that are at the heart of age-related deterioration.
Walnuts contain several powerful and unique antioxidants, which are available in just a few commonly consumed foods. This includes the flavanol morin, the tannin tellimagrandin, and the quinone juglone.
Walnuts have antioxidants that are really powerful at free-radical scavenging that scientists call them “extraordinary”, and studies have found that polyphenols in walnuts can help prevent liver damage.
- Cancer-Fighting Properties
Walnuts can help decrease not just the risk of prostate cancer, but breast cancer too. In one study, mice who were fed what would correspond to a human eating 2.4 ounces of walnuts for 18 weeks, had considerably smaller and slower growing prostate cancer compared to the control group, which consumed the exact same amount of fat from other sources.
Overall, the whole walnut diet decreased prostate cancer developed by 30-40 %. According to another study done on mice, the human correspondent of only 2 handfuls of walnuts per day cut breast cancer risk by 50% and slowed tumor development by 50% also.
- Diabetes
The beneficial dietary fat in walnuts has been proven to improve metabolic parameters in individuals with type-2 diabetes. Moreover, overweight people with trype-2 diabetes who consumed ¼ cup of walnuts per day had significantly decreases in fasted insulin levels compared to individuals who didn’t, and this benefit was reached in the first 3 months.
Conclusion
Benefits of consuming walnuts include an improvement in metabolism and reproductive health in men, control of diabetes, and reduction of bad cholesterol in the body. Other significant health benefits of consuming walnuts stem from the fact that this nut possesses anti-inflammatory properties, helps as a mood booster and helps in weight management. It is also thought that eating walnuts can slow down the spread of cancer.
That’s it for now my friends; see you all the next time.
